When I heard these words for the first time, they made me think hmmm.... what a beautiful way to describe life.

...."Although we cannot bring back the hour of splendor in the grass, glory in the flower, we will grieve not, rather find strength in what remains behind".....- William Wordsworth, Intimations of Immortality.
If you ever get a chance to read the entire poem by William Wordsworth, it will give you some insight on how as you get older you reflect on memorys of when you were young. Often these memorys can become bittersweet. I used to return to these words for comfort whenever I felt the need to remember that our existence in this world should never be taken for granted. A lesson often overlooked by people in the world today. I know this because at the age of only fifty-six my father started to show the beginning signs of what would ultimately be diagnosed as Alzheimers Disease. I decided that for my multigenre research project, I would like to share what I have learned and experienced about the disease dementia and what kind of affect it has on families and caregivers.

My story begins by introducing to you my father Charles Brooks Watkins. He just had his 61st birthday on July 11, 2002. He was born in Oakhill, West Virginia and graduated with a masters degree from W.V.U. in education. He has spent his career in the educational system in West Virginia as a english teacher and then a Vice Principal at a high school. He is a loving husband, father of three daughters and a grandfather.
It was about six years ago when his trouble began to take shape. He noticed he was having a hard time telling a story because he couldn't remember the name of people, places or things. It would take him a long time to tell a short story. He then began to try to compensate by asking people to help him to fill in the blanks that he couldn't remember. An example of how he would talk would be like this " oh you remember that thing, you know the thing that you used the thing with." He always needed the other person to complete what parts of the story he couldn't remember. It became increasingly difficult for him to socialize. He finally decided to see a doctor. For the first year, doctors couldn't figure out why his brain seem to be just deteriorating on the left side. As a result, as the years have gone by he has gone from a man who loved the West Virginia Mountaineers and the Pittsburgh steelers;a man who took great pride in attending hometown high school football and basketball games or beating anyone on the golf course, to a more somber person without the memory to enjoy any of those things he used to love.
Like many forms of dementia, Alzheimers disease diminishes a person's cognitive abilities, memory and sometimes their speech. For five years, my family cared for my father at my parents house taking turns feeding, bathing and trying to help maintain some quality of life for him. That lasted until January 1, 2002. On this day we decided the best thing for him and us was to allow him to live in a nursing home.
I did my research on the topic of educating caregivers on aphasia and dementia. I wanted to answer the question, how does aphasia coupled by dementia affect the quality of communication and success of caregiving responsibilities between patients and their caregivers? Since I had experienced this situation myself with my father, I wanted to show other people the need for education for caregivers and how frustrating dementia can be for caregivers, families and patients alike.
I wanted to give them the best knowledge on how to compensate for the lack of ability this disease causes in the communication relationship between them and their loved one. So after developing that idea, I thought I should first talk about what is aphasia and what is dementia? How does aphasia affect adult communication in patients suffering from dementia? What type of communication compensations can be taught to caregivers and patients with aphasia and dementia to make caregiving more positive and successful?
I also wanted to know what part can Speech Therapists play in coordinating quality care plans for adults suffering from aphasia and dementia and their caregivers? I wanted to include this information since I hope to one day work with these patients as a Speech Language Pathologist.
People are living longer these days and eventually many people will have to make a decision of how they are going to care for their loved one be it at home or pay for them to live in a nursing facility. Although the sacrifice for caring for them at home can be tremendous, there is information to provide to caregivers. This information can build within these caregivers the strength and durability to withstand the obstacles of taking care of a person with dementia.